Perpetual Motion
by Poledra182
Summary: She doesn't approve of Lucas Friar. Though, to be fair, she'd planned not to approve of him far in advance of the moment he stepped through her doorway. He was the latest in a long line of boys that Maya felt compelled to parade passed the family; seemingly unaware of how ill-suited each of them were for polite company. Flash Fiction. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Rain streaks the windows; leaving trails of tears that collect along the edge of the pane, before being replaced with the next droplet. She can hear the sound of thunder rattling in the distance and lightning streaks the sky in a dazzling display.

The intensity of nature is something beautiful; something to be watched and admired from the safety of her window seat. She clutches the afghan wrapped around her more tightly and glances to the steam that slowly rises from the cup of tea she has settled on the end table beside her.

"Do you ever wonder," Charlie's voice trails off, from where he's been seated at the piano bench all afternoon. His gaze trails passed hers out the window and she wonder if he's catching the glimpse of Maya and her latest boyfriend spinning carelessly around on the grass.

She's not sure when he stopped playing and a frown momentarily pulls at her lips.

His hands settle back on the ivory keys and he starts up again; playing a soft and fluid melody that lacks something she can't quite put her finger on.

Her hand rests for a moment against the glass and, then, she takes a sip of her tea; turning her full attention back on the man across from her.

Their eyes meet, once, as he looks up to flip the page of his sheet music and she can't help thinking that this is exactly what she wanted. A smile full of adoration pulls at his lips and she returns it; closing her eyes and settling back against the cushions.


	2. Chapter 2

She meets Charlie right after starting middle school. They're assigned to work together on one of those getting-to-know-you essays that they have to read in front of the class. She blushes as he reads hers and he smiles at her like she's special.

She's not sure when they slip from friendship into something more, but it's organic. So, gradual she doesn't even consciously acknowledge it.

On Monday, he meets her at her locker to discuss the reading for the coming day. Tuesday, his hand brushes against hers, so quickly, she assumes it must be an accident. Wednesday, she catches his stare, just a second too long, as he fumbles through an answer to the question that the teacher asks. Thursday, he broaches the topic of the upcoming dance. Friday, Maya doesn't comment on his waiting by her locker; like it's somehow gone from an abnormality to an expectation. Saturday, they sway awkwardly to a song in the middle of the gym. And, Sunday, he shows up at her door and asks if they can study together.

By the time a week has gone by, he's carrying her books and those brushes of his hand no longer seem so much like an accident.

One day, his hand grabs hers; warm and sweaty, and it swings between them as they make the familiar walk to their class together.

And if something in it doesn't feel quite right; doesn't send her heart fluttering or her head shooting up into the clouds, she doesn't say anything.

It's easier to chalk it up to inexperience.


	3. Chapter 3

He has four sisters; one older and three younger. They all cram themselves into a three-bedroom apartment that half the size of her own residence. However, she never doubts that every nook and cranny is filled to the brim with love.

They sit on the fire escape together, when the noise inside gets to be too much. Distantly, they'll be able to hear his mother cooking in the kitchen and two of his sisters arguing over the single bathroom. And, there always seems to be music; loud and upbeat adding to the general fray.

And he'll tell her how he feels like his family sprung off the page of, "Little Women," making a vague joke about how his father never made it home from the Civil War. (It's the closest he ever gets to talking about his father.)

They'll swing their feet off the edge and, sometimes, when she's tired or when she can feel his pain radiating across the distance between them, she'll let her head rest against his shoulder.

And, she wants to be a part of it. The craziness, the laughter, the family conversations where no subject is barred. It's so different from the law and order that rests over her own home, or the awkward silence that can always be found at Maya's.

They never let her doubt that she belongs with them. And she's never been accepted so easily, without any reservations.

Somehow, his family starts to feel like hers and whatever she can't feel seems trivial in comparison to all that she wants too.


	4. Chapter 4

He buys all of his sisters' flowers for Valentine's day and a box of the expensive kind of chocolates for his mother. She gets a note slipped into her locker and written in his familiar, neat handwriting. He lists out all the things that he admires about her; from her smile and endless enthusiasm, to the way she always listens.

Having him fills her with a confidence she's never been able to find on her own. He builds her up, helps her doubt herself less.

So, when she plants a hesitant kiss on his lips at the end of the day, she doesn't regret it. Because love can't be everything she's read about and everything she's seen on TV.

Maybe, it can be ordinary and safe and comfortable. Maybe, it can just be this.


	5. Chapter 5

They make it through middle school and no reason seems good enough for them to stop in high school.

They're Riley-and-Charlie, Charlie-and-Riley and she's glad that she never has to deal with the break-ups and make-ups of everyone, else. Charlie never lets her doubt exactly where he stands and exactly what he feels.

And, if she isn't filled with the same conviction that he is, she chalks it up to her own insecurities. Because there's no guarantee that she'll find anything, else and she can't imagine ever finding anything better.


	6. Chapter 6

Her heart stops beating in her chest, her mouth goes dry, and she feels his green-eyed gaze to the very bottom of her toes.

And, then, Maya goes over to take to his order.


	7. Chapter 7

She doesn't approve of Lucas Friar. Though, to be fair, she'd planned not to approve of him far in advance of the moment he stepped through her doorway. He was the latest in a long line of boys that Maya felt compelled to parade passed the family; seemingly unaware of how ill-suited each of them were for polite company.

Drew had driven a motorcycle and sported the track marks of someone far enough gone in addiction, there was little left to save. Nick had squeezed Cory's hand just a little too tight and sat slumped in his chair throughout dinner, with a mocking smile on his face that suggested he found little to relate to from their domestic scene. And Jason had smelled of cigarette smoke and snuck drinks from a flask whenever their attention seemed to be diverted to anyone else.

At first sight, Lucas doesn't appear to be any different.

He wears black combat boots and shrugs off a jean-jacket that's stained in dirt and oil; slinging it across the back of the couch, rather than hanging it on the coatrack beside the door. She catches the hint of a tattoo peeking out from the dark blue t-shirt and he introduces himself with the same over-confidence that seems to be a staple required in every archetypal, "Bad boy."

"I'm Lucas," he extended his hand to her and she winces at the rough calluses that brush against the skin of her hand.

For a moment, she's pulled into the color of his eyes and the wide set shoulders. If she squints there's almost something noble about him; something in the way he holds himself and the pressure of his hand on hers, but, then, she blinks and the illusion fades.

"Riley," she returns, before turning away from him and finding something to busy herself with in the kitchen.

She listens as he talks about his life in Texas with her father, skirts around the topic of college when her mother brings it up and manages to turn the conversation completely away from himself; all within the course of his first twenty minutes through the door.

And she reminds herself that boys like Lucas Friar are the ones her parents have always warned her about. He's not the white knight that rides in on a horse and sweeps her away, he's the boy that leaves your heart shredded into pieces and that you agonize over in the dead of night.

(She does agonize that night, but it's not over him and she definitely has nothing to feel guilty for.)


	8. Chapter 8

Charlie doesn't like him, but he's more vocal then he's ever been about any of Maya's past boyfriends. He holds her hand just a little too tight when they go out for pizza on a double date; making sure their hands stay twined together on the top of the table, despite how difficult it makes actually eating.

He refuses to let Lucas shift the conversation away when it becomes uncomfortable. He forces Lucas to admit to dropping out of college and working at a garage, to leaving his home on less than pleasant terms, to occasionally drinking despite being under the legal limit.

Then, Charlie looks over to her, as though he's trying to drive home a point she didn't even know he was making.

And, when she jerks her hand away from him; hiding it under the table, she swears she catches the hint of a smile pulling at Lucas's mouth.

She calls Charlie out on it later and all he'll admit to is that he doesn't like the way Lucas looks at _her_. She tries to pretend that she hadn't noticed; reminds Charlie that he's Maya's.

They're not the couple that slams doors in each other's faces, so she closes the door carefully and she accepts his apology the next morning.


	9. Chapter 9

Maya and Lucas break up regularly and, somehow, always end up back together again. They fight with raised voices and cutting words that would have reduced Riley to tears. But, as far as Riley can tell, they bounce off of Maya like she's bulletproof.

They seem to thrive off the energy; live somewhere in that shadow between that pain that renders you completely incapacitated and the kind that wakes you up just enough to feel alive.

Riley's never been there.

She hears Auggie's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Ava tell him that she wants a relationship that's more then Riley and Charlie, but less than Maya and Lucas.

And there's a part of her that agrees.


	10. Chapter 10

She doesn't think that anyone just wakes up one day and decides to have an affair. You don't just happen upon an epiphany that there's something in your relationship that could be better filled with someone else.

Sometimes she wonders if the woman that Maya's father left them for had seen him first. If she'd hesitated just a moment too long and, then, Katy had captured his attention.

And, then, maybe, when the glitter of his whirlwind with Katy had started to wear off, he'd laid awake at night and wondered….

Which had led to looking, which had led to talking, which had led to one innocent moment that had felt anything, but innocent.

Maybe, he'd regretted all of it in the end.

But what if he hadn't?


	11. Chapter 11

They go away for the weekend.

All four of them.

Lucas and Maya are like ice in the backseat as Charlie drives and Riley attempts to interpret the GPS. She's not sure what they're fighting about, but they haven't spoken a word to each other, since they'd loaded their luggage in the back of the car and left an entire middle seat between them.

Sometimes, Riley's eyes meet Lucas's in the rearview mirror and she remembers how she disapproved of him when they first met.

She wants to disapprove of him, now.

(But she doesn't.)


	12. Chapter 12

The blood stains the porcelain crimson; as she stares at the droplets making their way from her thumb to the sink edge and, eventually, streaking their way down the drain. She can feel the throbbing start, as her shock wears off and she braces her uninjured hand against the side of the sink in an effort to hold herself up.

"Riley," the voice is gentle; like he's trying to coax an anxious animal out of hiding and she closes her eyes in an effort to solidify her composure.

"I'm fine, it's just a cut," she assures him; not surprised when the door springs open, despite her words.

"Let me see," his voice holds no room for negotiation and she shifts to the side, as he turns on the sink and holds her hand under the water. His palm is warm against her wrist and she can't help studying him; surprised by what it feels like to captivate all of his attention.

It's different then what it feels like when she has all of Charlie's and she hates herself for the thought.

"Will I live?" her voice meant to be teasing but comes out entirely too breathless and for one moment his eyes rest on hers and her heart stops.

When the flow of blood starts to recede; he pulls open the cabinet and retrieves a band aid. He wipes the excess water away with a towel, before painstakingly applying the band aid to the site of her wound.

"All better."

His hand lingers a second too long on her wrist.


	13. Chapter 13

Charlie kisses her finger better, as she settles into his lap on top of a lawn chair.

She's never felt his kiss all the way to her nerve endings, but she wants to, now. She wants to feel the imprints of his fingers on his skin and the pounding of her heart when their eyes meet.

She wants to want him as badly as she had wanted to want him in the beginning.

Somewhere in the distance a cricket chirps.


	14. Chapter 14

"A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do work indefinitely without an energy source. This kind of machine is impossible, as it would violate the first or second law of thermodynamics. For example, the motions and rotations of celestial bodies such as planets may appear perpetual, but are actually subject to many processes that slowly dissipate their kinetic energy, such as solar wind, interstellar medium resistance, gravitational radiation and thermal radiation, so they will not keep moving forever."-Wikipedia


	15. Chapter 15

Riley sets her teacup aside when she's finished off the last drop and she strains her ears to hear the laughter floating through the closed window.

Maya looks happy; her head turned up towards the sky and her arms spread wide in front of her. Whatever tension had existed between them on the drive up had seemed to dispel with the storm. But, she can't help noticing the way Lucas's eyes dart back towards the house and the way his smile seems a little more forced.

But, maybe that's just wishful thinking.

"Sometimes," Charlie's hands paused on the keys, but she can't bring herself to look at him, "I do wonder."


End file.
